I am a computer science student about to graduate in a few months but recently have been interested in 3d modelling, particularly in environment modelling. I have a good amount of spare time considering this my final year.

At this point, I am thinking about getting a job in the game industry but undecided of whether to do programming or art. I don't enjoy programming as much as 3d modelling but have more experience in it. I only know the basics of 3ds max as of right now.

So my question is, should I apply for programming whilst learning and becoming proficient in environment modelling or take the time to learn environment modelling in these few months + summer holidays and search for the jobs, or are both of these options terrible?

Have you considered a career as a technical artist? They often do the more programmery-type work related to the art pipeline, and that might be a good fit for your experience and interest. Admittedly they are often more linked to character art than environment art, but still.

Beyond that, I think it's entirely your choice. Bear in mind getting hired as a programmer becomes harder if it's clear from your interview that you'd rather be an artist. And nobody will hire you as an environment artist until your portfolio is good - which will take a while since you're starting from nothing, and you'll be competing against graduates who've done nothing but 3D modelling for the last 3 or 4 years.

^^ I was going to make the same recommendation :)

Getting into game art without years of experience will be hard... but also getting into game programming without years worth of portfolio material will also be hard...

However, someone who has a passion for 3D modelling but also has a computer science degree? That's tech-art gold right there (assuming you're semi-competent with the 3D modelling tools, and can write some plugins for them / automation scripts for them).

Alright thanks guys, I wasn't really aware of the technical artist role so I'll look into it!